When Shuo woke, sunlight had already squeezed through the gap in the curtains, drawing a crooked golden line on the floor.
He lay still.
In his perception, the chakra beside the wall downstairs was still there-Sai had stayed all night.
Far away, on the roof of the Mission Hall, Dango had just woken and was stretching.
A little farther away...
He opened his eyes.
Someone was on the roof opposite the dormitory.
Not lying in wait, but passing through-though the passing through seemed a little deliberate.
The man wore ordinary ninja clothes and moved neither quickly nor slowly, as if on patrol.
But no patrol route passed through this residential area.
And his chakra...
Shuo closed his eyes and "looked" again.
Suppressed. Very faint. But that chill was the same as those two people on the cafeteria's second floor a few days ago.
Root.
Shuo rolled over to face the wall.
What a hassle.
First thing in the morning, before I've even brushed my teeth, and now this.
He lay there for five minutes.
Then he sat up.
He washed, changed, and went downstairs.
Sai was still beside the wall, a third of the way through the book in his hands, "Advanced Applications of Light Refraction Principles in Water Release."
Seeing Shuo emerge, he closed the book and stood.
"Didn't you sleep last night?" Shuo asked.
"I did," Sai said. "Three hours."
Shuo said nothing.
He headed toward the cafeteria.
Sai followed.
After a few steps, Shuo suddenly stopped.
"Wait here," he said.
Sai didn't ask why.
Shuo turned into a nearby alley, walked twenty meters, and stopped.
A wall stood before him.
Behind it was a dead end where people rarely went.
But at that moment, someone was standing there.
Around forty, with a scar on his left cheek,